Office Observations
by Scardie Kat
Summary: The team observe the relationship between Reid and his partner as they dance between the line of professionalism and something more. First CM fic so let me know what you think! Reid/OC


It was a movement so subtle it would have gone unnoticed if they were in a public place. But sitting on the small couch on the gulfstream jet, it was a bold move. Claire's head came to rest on Spencer's shoulder, her body relaxing against his. An arm reached around and held her in place, though it looked as though it was placed there only for comfort. She had a file in her hands, but her eyes were nearly closed. He read the book in hands slower than necessary, whispering the words to his partner.

Hotch watched the two young agents. He had to admit it was nice to see them getting along. They went through the academy together and joined the BAU together. Sure they all worked as a team, but Claire and Spencer made the best profiler together. She was quick on her feet and almost a perfect shot, while he was all brain. Their first few cases had been rough, but Hotch knew they would eventually find their places on the team.

"_That's two, Reid." Claire said as she boarded the plane behind him. "One more and you owe me dinner."_

"_Claire, you were the one who chased him down. I followed to help you out." Reid complained as he headed to the back of the plane, while Claire took the first seat she came to. _

"_Help me out, what were you going to do talk him to death?"_

"_You could have told me the unsub had a gun."_

"_I didn't know until he had it on you?" The two young agents stared at each other from their respective sides of the plane. _

"_You shouldn't have tried to talk him out of it." Spencer said quietly, but due to the silence of the plane she heard. _

"_I had to try something? He had you as a shield, so unless you're giving me permission to shoot through you next time, I don't see why we're even having this conversation."_

"_You did what you had to," Hotch cut in between the two. "We got him and that's all that matters."_

"_Next time I want to go through the front with Morgan." Claire said, not looking up from her hands. _

"_You can't do that," Hotch said with a shake of the head. _

"_Why not? I can back Morgan up, you trust me?" She directed the question to the man across from her._

"_You know I do, Megs but its better if we have someone strong coming from the front and back. Putting us together won't help anyone." _

"_Morgan's right. We might not have caught him if you hadn't been in the back. He ran when we came in." Hotch explained further, dancing around the real reason he didn't want to change her position. _

_Spencer was a good profiler, but he wasn't ready for the field. With Claire by his side Hotch never had to worry about them. He brought them both onto the team because together they were probably the best agent he could ever ask for. He only wished Claire would be patient enough to get along with Spencer. They needed to be able to work together because that was the only way they would be helpful to the team. He watched them during fights like these and hoped that one day they would realized it was easier to get along than fight. _

"_I guess I'm stuck with Dr. Reid, then." Claire said with a hint of annoyance. _

"_Why is this suddenly a problem?" Reid asked from his seat._

"_We're not joined at the hip, Reid."_

"_Then why is it we're always together?" Claire began to speak again, but decided against it. Instead she dropped her gaze and pulled out a book. The plane remained quiet for some time, until a low buzz of conversation started up. _

This was their normal after case argument. Claire would save Spencer's neck in some way, and she would feel the urge to continue to remind him. There was the occasional case where Spencer helped out Claire and he would continually remind her as well. The others found their banter amusing, especially Morgan.

Claire listened intently as Spencer continued to read to her. She refused to look at the pages, opting to listen to his voice travel the short distance to her ear. On occasion, a giggle would escape her lips followed by a short laugh from Spencer. Morgan pretended not to notice them, trying to focus more on his music than the young agents. They were joined at the hip, more literally lately, almost as if they relied on each other. Normally Morgan would have said something about Spencer getting that much attention from a beautiful girl such as Claire. Morgan liked having the two on the team. They were young and both had qualities that helped the team, and they were also fun. Spencer was good to play poker with and easy to make fun of. Claire was quick on her toes and life of the party. Morgan knew they were opposites, but that didn't mean they had nothing in common, like the book Spencer had in his hands.

"_What are you reading there, sweet thing?" Morgan asked as he walked into the bull pen. Claire looked up from the hefty volume laid across her desk._

"_You know just a little bit of light reading, gorgeous." _

"_It's Poe's complete works." Spencer answered for her._

"_What can I say? I like a dark cloud over my day as long as possible." Claire shrugged with a smile. "Dr. Reid bet me fifty bucks I wouldn't have it finished by the end of the week. I couldn't miss an opportunity like that."_

"_Let's just hope we don't get another case by then." Morgan told her shaking his head at the thought of reading such a dense book._

"_Here's to hoping," Spencer said quietly from his desk directly in front of Claire's. She threw a pen at him blindly with her head still ducked in the book._

"_How exactly are you planning on finishing your files? You better not be slacking on work for a mere fifty bucks." Morgan told her, stilling not understanding what it was about the two young agents and trying to one up each other._

"_Already taken care of." She smiled again, and walked around her desk to Spencer's. "If you look here, you can see that Dr. Reid's normal stack of files has increased substantially. This is due to the only stipulation I placed on his bet. He does all my files until I finish the book."_

"_I'm hoping she likes slacking off more than the money she's going to lose." _

"_Oh no, Dr. Reid, I enjoy proving you wrong more than anything else in the world. This book will be finished and you will owe me a crisp bill with the grumpy face of Grant on it." _

"_I was thinking more along the lines of smaller bills. I hate breaking anything larger than a twenty." Claire stuck out her tongue before returning to her desk._

_Morgan watched Claire most of the day, always with her nose stuck in the book. Even at lunch she ate silently, turning the pages swiftly. She was reading almost as quickly as Spencer though it was at least two pages to his one. Every once in a while he would stop and try to pry her away with any kind of conversation. Morgan and Garcia found it entertaining watching him try to break her away from the books for as long as he could. _

"_Spencer, leave me alone. I swear I will kick your geeky butt if you say one more word to me." Claire threatened with a cheeky smile. _

_Claire hid in Garcia's office for the rest of the afternoon and right when Morgan was packing up to leave, she came back out. He'd probably never seen her smile that big the entire time she'd been at the BAU. The noise of her slamming down the heavy book on top of Spencer's desk turned everyone's head in the office. _

"_Cough it up, genius. I'm done." She smiled, doing a little happy dance between the desks. _

"_There's no way you finished that already."_

"_Ask Garcia, she was there while I finished the last few hundred. You saw me read most of the beginning, time to pay up."_

_Spencer tried to hide the smile threatening to spread across his face. He pulled out his wallet slowly, taking the fifty dollar bill and handing it to her. Claire took it happily. Her smile falter as he picked up the thick stack of files and placed those in her hands as well. _

"_Okay that was fun while it lasted." Claire said full of disappointment. _

"_We could always try again. How about Proust?" Spencer asked warranting a glare from his partner. _

"_I'd rather profile sick criminals." _

"_You're loss," he laughed. _

"_It really would have been. I should be on suicide watch after reading Poe and the last thing I want to do is delve back into famous literature. I thought my professors were tough. You should rethink your career path Dr. Reid." _

Claire and Spencer fought more than they got along, but something about having the same interest in books gave them common ground. Slowly they went from hidden anger to playful banter. Reading books or making bets kept them

Spencer shifted slightly, allowing Claire to fall against his chest lightly. She smiled up at him quickly, before closing her eyes again in a half sleep. The ride home was always the easiest. There was no threat or adrenaline pumping through their vein. It was relaxing, almost fun. As Claire began to fall into a sleep, she heard Spencer's words dissipate. The rhythmic rising and falling of his chest only served to rock her further into sleep. JJ watched the two from the corner of her eye, pretending to be reading through new files. She had seen both Claire and Spencer grow since they started at the BAU, but it was what they taught each other that surprised her.

"_Claire," Spencer nearly ran to where she was standing in the break room with JJ and Garcia. She tried not to laugh at him as she poured out a new cup of coffee. _

"_Calm down there Spence, you're going to hurt yourself." _

"_I passed my gun qualifications."_

"_The first time?" She asked a little suspicious._

"_Of course, which means you owe me ten dollars."_

"_Whoa, how exactly do you figure that Dr. Reid?" Claire asked hiding a smirk behind her coffee mug. _

"_Don't try and pretend like you don't remember our bet. I pass on the first try and you owe me ten dollars."_

"_But, I'm the one that's been helping you for the past two weeks. Technically you owe me for all those late nights spent with you emptying rounds in everything but the target." Claire watched him closely, waiting to see if he'd agree with her. _

"_Claire helped you pass?" JJ asked a little shocked. "I thought Hotch did that?"_

"_He's not as good a teacher I am." Claire smiled at her friend, before turning back to Spencer. "So cough it up wonder boy." _

"_What about that lecture we went to?" Spencer suddenly said. JJ and Garcia had a hard time keeping a straight face as the two went back and forth._

"_The one we went to last week, what about it?"_

"_I sat there and explained every other word to you."_

"_Okay that's a little over dramatic. It was more like every seventh word." _

"_I still think I should get something for that." _

"_You got a cookie, remember you stole them out of my bag when I turned my back for two seconds."_

"_I gave you the change to use in the vending machine." The two agents stared at each other, thinking up their next statements. _

"_What about the coffee we got last week?" Claire said, "I bought that brownie and you took that too." _

"_You put seven files on my desk yesterday." Spencer finally said happily. Claire smiled proudly only to be cut off as their audience began to laugh. _

"_What's so funny?"_

_JJ could never understand why they took so much pleasure in one uping each other. It was like watching a ping pong game with two great players, there were some great shots but mostly it was just back and forth. Claire hated losing and Spencer liked challenging her. The only time they truly got along was when they had a bet going on. _

"_One day you should really just call it even." JJ said with a smile as she began to walk away. "And nice job, Reid."_

"_And Claire," she called after the blonde agent wanting a little recognition as well. "Yeah, congrats Dr. Reid, you have successfully managed to conquer all aspects of an FBI profiler."_

"_Are you making fun of me?" He asked with a look of mock hurt on his face. _

"_I would never do that, Spence."_

Claire was almost blissfully asleep, until Spencer leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Emily's eyes flicked to the pair, when they tried to stifle their laughter. Claire shifted so that she was seated upright, instead of lying on Spencer. She smiled at him, allowing his arm to still rest around her shoulder. They whispered between themselves, sometimes only mere inches apart from one another. Claire would occasionally hide her smile in his shoulder. He would hold her a little tighter stopping her body from shaking with laughter, although his was doing the same. It wasn't unusual for them to act like giggling teenagers after cases that end well. When Emily joined the team, she noticed how close they were as partners. But it wasn't until Reid's encounter with Tobias that she noticed Claire stayed a little closer.

_Emily leaned in a little closer to the hospital bed as she saw Spencer begin to wake up. JJ put her magazine down and immediately glanced down the hall for Claire, knowing that's who he would want to see first. The girls had stayed at the hospital with him while the other boys cleaned up at the police station. They all wanted to go home after the Georgia case._

"_Where's Claire?" He asked groggily. _

"_She went to get something from the vending machine. She hasn't left all night." Emily explained as Spencer sat up as best he could. He didn't look like he'd been kidnapped and for two days._

"_Spence," Claire called from down the hall. They all turned to watch her run the distance and stop just inside the door. "You're up. I got you some cookies and coffee."_

_Emily moved out of the way, joining JJ in the corner of the room watching the two agents interact. It amazed her how relieved they looked just at the sight of each other. Claire slowly sat on the edge of the bed, Spencer's hand resting close to her hip to keep her from falling off the edge. They didn't say anything for awhile, Claire obviously still holding back her tears. _

"_I'll go get the doctor." JJ said as she moved out of the room. _

"_Cookies?" Spencer asked as he took the bag from her._

"_Honestly, they were for me. I was starving."_

"_I guess we can share," he smiled at her, but Claire didn't return it._

"_How are you feeling?" Claire asked as she brushed back his hair. _

"_Not too bad, you look worse than I feel." _

"_Nice Spence," she laughed. _

"_Have you changed in the past two days?" He asked, picking a piece of fluff off her sleeve. "There's dirt in your hair."_

"_Way to make a girl feel special, Dr. Reid."_

_They both laughed, leaning so that their forehead's touched. Claire moved closer, wrapping her arm around him and burying her face in his shoulder. Emily could tell that Claire's laughter had turned into the sobs she'd been holding back since finding out Spencer was gone. Emily felt like an intruder during their intimate reunion. She stepped out of the room when the doctor came in, deciding to stand at the window with JJ._

_Since joining the team she noticed how close the two youngest agents were and was surprised that no one especially Hotch had a problem with it. Claire had been falling apart the entire time they were separated, but sat at Garcia's side trying her best to feign help. Emily remembered how quickly she ran out of the house after watching Spencer die. Gideon had gone out to talk to her, bringing her back in with tear streaked cheeks. _

"_We're cleared to go." Spencer said as the two walked out of the room, arms wrapped around one another to look as though she was propping Spencer up. Emily saw that he wasn't leaning on her, so much as holding her to him._

"_I'll call the guys," JJ said pulling out her phone. _

"_God, I'm ready to get out of here." Claire sighed as they headed to the parking lot. _

"_I think we all are." Emily agreed, getting a smile from JJ also. _

_The plane ride was the first one that didn't include an immature argument between the two young agents. And instead of separating as per usual, they confiscated the couch. Spencer lay down with his legs across Claire's, smiling at her from the short distance. It wasn't long before they were back at each other's side, huddled in their own little world. Spencer had let Claire read to him, lying across her lap as she whispered the words so that only he could hear. The way they stared at each other reassured that Emily's theories were true. They couldn't be more than partners, but they would try to get as close as possible. _

The team headed back to the office when they landed. Finishing up reports and anything else that needed to be done before the weekend could officially start. It wasn't long before one by one the desks emptied. Morgan offered to take everyone out for drinks only getting agreements from Emily and Rossi. Hotch had to get home, as well as JJ. Spencer and Claire stayed behind to finish more of their files, both refusing to waste time during the weekend on work. Garcia was still in her office as the two agents were packing their belongings up once again. They were the only ones left in the darkness of the office space. Seeing them interact always brought a smile to her face.

"_Where do you want to go for lunch?" Claire asked as she waited for the elevator with Spencer. _

"_I chose last time," he complained, but she was more focused on Garcia leaving her office than her partner's statement. _

"_Garcia, you going to lunch?"_

"_I'm meeting Morgan down stairs, where are you two going? Let me guess, sneaky romantic lunch in a secluded place."_

"_Sorry to disappoint, but we're going to some cheap diner." Claire said stepping into the elevator with Garcia and Spencer. The small space was crowded, forcing her to move against Spencer's chest. Garcia watched as he placed a hand around her hip. Claire smiled up at him. Spencer leaned down, resting his head on her shoulder for a split second. _

"_You still have to pick where we're going." She said, elbowing him slightly. _

"_What about the deli down the road?"_

"_Alright, but we have to get coffee in the café next door." _

_Exiting the elevator, Claire reached down for Spencer's hand. Garcia walked over to Morgan and decided to stop the pair of profilers. "How about you two come out with us?" _

"_We don't want to intrude," Spencer said trying to be thoughtful. But the truth was he like his lunches with Claire. _

"_Please, I promise it will be fun." _

"_Why not, we'll go where ever you planned." Claire smiled walking out behind the couple. As they rounded the building, she felt Spencer's hand slip into hers drawing her back from their friends. _

"_Are you sure about this?" _

"_It's just one lunch with friends. I think we can survive an afternoon with Morgan and Garcia." _

"_If that's what you want to do," Spencer said finally continuing to follow their colleagues._

"_Spence, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were being a little selfish. You can't have me all to yourself every day." She squeezed his hand a little tighter, feeling him lean down close to her shoulder._

"_I wish I could." He whispered, causing a smile to spread across Claire's face. He moved closer, towering over Claire's small frame. She hadn't even realized they stopped walking. They tried hard not the laugh, dancing around each other's feet. He kept his hand woven through hers, pressing their bodies press together. _

"_Hurry up you two," Garcia called as she turned her head to watch the young couple. Claire pushed Spencer playfully, before pulling him by the hand to catch up. _

"_Are we almost there, I'm starving." Claire asked with a laugh. _

"_In here," Morgan said taking them into a small Chinese restaurant. _

_Garcia watched Claire and Spencer through lunch. They sat close together, picking food off each other's plate. She knew that to an outsider it would look like two couples on a double date, surprisingly the younger two much more affectionate. Claire tried to teach him to use chopsticks, eventually asking for a fork._

Claire waited for Spencer, wrapping her arm around his waist when he was close enough. This was the only time they were able to show how much they cared about one another. While waiting on the elevator Garcia watched from the edge of her office door. They stood in front of the doors, Claire nudging him with her elbow. She playfully pushed him away, only to have his push back. It was like watching elementary children play footsie. Claire swayed to kick him, only to be blocked by his long legs. Their laughter echoed through the empty hall. The doors opened and they separated momentarily to step inside.

A hand covered her mouth as she watched, hiding the smile spreading across her face. Claire stepped into him, wrapping her arms around her his neck. They swayed back and forth, Spencer's hands holding her waist and keeping her pressed against his body. Claire pulled his forehead to rest against hers, his head dipped to the side placing a subtle kiss on her lips. Her grasp around his neck pulled him closer into a hug, standing on her toes to get close to his height.

As the doors closed, Garcia gathered her things to leave for the day. She had to be the only one that saw what they were like alone. They tried so hard to keep their relationship professional, but she could tell a spark had formed between them. Garcia could see that Claire and Spencer looked after each other, loved each other. It broke her heart to watch the two young agents get closer with each passing day only to be forced further apart the next.


End file.
